Ferrari 246 SP winner of the 1961 Targa Florio
Ferrari 246 SP Wolfgang Von Trips – Olivier Gendebien
The Ferrari 246 SP was unveiled at the 1961 press conference and caused sensation among the journalists. It was the first time that Ferrari made a mid-engined car. In fact, Ferrari had already participated in two rounds of the 1960 Formula 1 World Championship as a test, but the first mid-engined car it built in earnest was the 246 SP. With a mechanical layout that, as we will see later, was derived directly from Formula 1, and a truly innovative body, designed by Carlo Chiti with the help of the wind tunnel. Something unprecedented for Ferrari.
Enzo Ferrari was a prideful man, with a lot of character. He said the phrase “the horses must pull the carriage, not push it”, and “aerodynamics are for people who don’t know how to build engines”. However, Ferrari knew how to recognise when something worked, and the overwhelming success of Cooper with his rear-engined T51 that lifted Jack Brabham to his first world drivers’ title left no room for doubt. Ferrari reacted and accelerated the development of the 156 F1 to respond to the success of Cooper, which was soon joined by BRM, Brabham, and Lotus, which were particularly effective thanks to the ingenious designs of Colin Chapman.
However, there was another area of action, the World Manufacturers’ Championship, where it was only a matter of time before this configuration became established. Ferrari decided to be as innovative in the Sports Prototypes as it had not been in Formula 1.
The Car
The Ferrari 246 SP was developed together with the 156 F1 “Sharknose”, which would win the constructors’ championship and a double for drivers in Formula 1 in 1961. Carlo Chiti adapted the effective chassis of the new F1 to the regulations of the World Manufacturers’ Championship, so that the 246 SP was, to a large extent, a Formula 1 car with the essential modifications to incorporate the two regulatory seats and thus turned it into a Sports Prototype.
Vittorio Jano was responsible for the mechanics. The displacement of the V6 “Dino” block used in the F1 was increased to 2,417 cubic centimetres to deliver 270 hp at 8,000 revolutions per minute and an estimated maximum speed of over 270 km/h. Regarding weight, it would weight only 590 kg.
In this way, at the same press conference in 1961, the 156 F1 and the 246 SP were unveiled together, the first endurance model with a central-rear engine created by the brand, the first to debut and to achieve the first great victory. It was on the difficult Piccolo delle Madonie circuit, where Olivier Gendebien and Wolfgang Von Trips won the Targa Florio.
This is the version we have reproduced at Modelant, the winner of the 45th Targa Florio in 1961. An impressive and fearsome race, raced on a tortuous route through the Mediona mountains where each lap was 72 km long with an endless number of impossible-to-memorize turns that pushed cars and drivers to their limits.
Wolfgang Von Trips and Olivier Gendebien
The driver duo was made up of Olivier Gendebien, an experienced specialist in long-distance races, and Wolfgang Von Trips, who we have reproduced at the wheel of our replica, in what would be his last great victory. A few months later he would meet his death in Monza after a fatal crash that would claim another 14 lives when he was leading the Formula 1 drivers’ championship with the 156 and which was at the hands of Phil Hill who overtook him in points in that same race. According to the devastated Hill, the title should have gone to Von Trips.
A few days after his death, the Von Trips family entrusted the care of their karting track in Kerpen to a bricklayer who was fond of repairing karts, a certain Rolf Schumacher, who seven years later had a son whom he would name Michael.
Our 1/32 scale version:
Ferrari 246 SP winner of the 1961 Targa Florio
December 18, 2024